An outline sketch of the character of water..

¥ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.*
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t [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] |

J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I

AN OUTLINE SKETCH

CHARACTER OF WjlTEIj,

«" AND

ITS NATURAL MOVEMENTS.

The Important Discovery

OF

The True Form for k Vessel;

CREATING AN ERA
IN THE HISTORY OF NAVIGATION.

By Capt. Jas. E. Cole.

PRICE, - 10 Cents.

NEW YORK ;

E. O'Keefe, Printer and Stationer,

28, 30 & 32 Centre St.

1879.

Introductory.

Nautical men, and others, in various parts
of the world, have ever been seeking the
true form for a vessel, but as yet they have
' not discovered it, for it is still sought for.
As it is the form that is wanted, men have
confined themselves to an experimental
study of the form alone, seeking by alter-
ing and improving it to attain their object.
This certainly is a wrong method of pro-
cedure, for it is obvious to all, that as our
ability to move in vessels is derived from
the character of water, and as the resist-
ance we encounter comes from it the onlv
proper way to proceed is to learn its char-
acter, laws and movements and then form
the vessel intelligently, in such a way, as
will secure the best results.

Having myself pursued this course and
learned its character and what the form
should be, I in this way present the know-
ledge gained to the public for their consi-
deration and acceptance, and I request the
reader's careful attention to what is written.

THE MECHANISM OF WATER.

Water, in quantity, is composed of in-
visible globes which range themselves in
perpendicular columns resting on the bot-
tom under them. While water to the eye
appears so compact as to form a solid mass,
these globes are nevertheless each and
every one separate from every other one,
giving them the power to move freely among
other globes without friction. In this state-
ment we have the mechanical construction
of water, and it certainly is not difficult to
understand. The man who refuses to ac-
cept of it because he cannot see the invisi-
ble, need not, he being one of those who
will not know if they can prevent it.

THE MOVEMENTS OF WATER.

This mechanism gives to water the char-
acter and movements it has, which are those
and those only that we would expect from
such a construction. First, we have the
balancing of these columns which gives
water a perpendicular or vertical movement
in line with them. Next we have a hori-
zontal movement as we see in tides and cur-

rents which is caused by the globes of
water, (ranged as they are in columns,)
being pliable, causing each and every globe
to give out at all times a horizontal pressure
exactly equaling the weight resting on them.
In tides and currents, the water is more eleva-
ted at one point than it is at another, there
is a slight descent to its surface producing
a proportionate shortening of the columns
of globes that compose it. As each globe
in every column gives out a horizontal pres-
sure corresponding to the weight on it, the
globes in the more elevated columns have in
horizontal lines a greater pressure than the
globes in the columns less elevated, and
consequently they press more forcibly and
drive before them in a tide or current all
the water that in horizontal lines has a less
pressure. Although I find it difficult to
state this clearly, it certainly is not so diffi-
cult to understand it, and as it is worth know-
ing, I trust the reader will understand it, for
in it we have the secret of the power that
moves such vast quantities of water up and
down our rivers in tides, and the secret of the
power that moves the water from before a
vessel's path and places it behind her.

Beside the above mentioned well known
movements, the wave motion causes the
water from the surface to the bottom to
gyrate in circles, corresponding to its size
and form, which in giving form to a sea-
going vessel should be considered if we
would build her so that the ocean wave
could never harm her.

THE BOTTOM CONSIDERED.

In connection with these movements, we
must not overlook, or disregard, the impor-
tant fact that the bottom on which the
water rests, is the fulcrum of its power
and the base of its movements. Or the
fact that when we use a vessel as a lever to
move it, that the bottom under her, no mat-
ter how far off it may be, supports her
weight, and is the point where the fulcrum
power to move water is obtained.

EXISTING FORMS FAULTY.

Hitherto we have formed vessels without
taking into consideration these important
features, and the result has been very dif-
ferent from what it would bad we done so.
Our forms being wedge-like, when they

move quickly much of the water is ploughed
upward and pressed away to the side in
waves, which is a mistake, as we will clearly
see when we look at it from a more intelligent
stand point than we hitherto have had, for
we are thus driving from our control the
very water that is needed to help clear the
vessel's path, and needed to fill in behind
her. That we are working against ourselves,,
and in opposition to nature's laws, is evi-
denced by the well-known fact, that as we
increase the driving power, and more water
is ploughed up, the speed rapidly becomes
disproportionate to the power exerted, and
if excessive power be used, the speed will
be thereby actually reduced, and so great a
power can be applied, and so much water
can be ploughed up that the vessel will re-
fuse to proceed.

The fact is, we have had, and now have,
an improper form, we have thrown away
upon it much power without getting in re-
turn an equivalent result, and we have been
misled by it, and have formed an erroneous
opinion in regard to the speed attainable by
vessels moving in water. To form some

idea of the power thrown away, consider
that our best formed steamboats, when
passing up our large rivers, set in motion
every drop of water in them, and send pow-
erful waves to dash violently against their
shores.

HOW TO FOBM A VESSEL.

To correct these faults in the form is not
difficult, to obtain one that will move in ac-
cord with nature's laws requires no objec-
tionable change, in fact, we may use sub-
stantially the same vessel. "When intend-
ing to build, and having an approved model
which represents a half section of the ves-
sel to be constructed, all that is necessary
is, instead of building from the model in the
usual way, with the bows and rounded side
outward, that we place these parts in solid
contact amidships, and let the straight side
of the model represent and be the model
for the outer sides of the vessel.

ITS ADVANTAGES.

By placing the bows inward, and the
straight sides outward, we get much greater
stability, an important point, especially to

sailing vessels. And we have all the water
that is in the vessel's path, and which must
be moved by her, where it is perfectly un-
der our control. We have it between the
lever and the fulcrum, or the vessel and the
bottom, where the power to move it is, and
where we have the power to move it by the
perpendicular and horizontal movements
natural to water. We have it where all the
power that is exerted will give its full
equivalent of speed. Yes, we have it where
we can put in force that first great charge
given to man, to " Conquer the earth and
subdue it."

EXAMPLES TO SHOW ITS WORKING.

We may obtain an idea of the practical
working of such a form from the tidal move-
ment. When it is one hour's flood at New
York and the tide has risen eight inches, it
is low water at a point on the Hudson,
twenty-four miles distant. Thus there is a
fall to the water of one inch in three miles,
which fall, slight as it is, owing to the globu-
lar columnar construction of water, globe
pressing against globe, and column press-

10

ing against column, is sufficient to create a
current of three miles an hour. The deeper
the water is, the longer the columns are, the
more rapid is the current, as it should be,
this being its construction.

To apply this to a vessel, suppose a steam
boat built on this principle to be 300 feet
long, and suppose by driving her ahead the
water is elevated two inches more at the
bow than it is at the stern, then we have a
descent to its surface of two inches in 300
feet, which, being one hundred times greater
angle than is the fall of one inch in three
miles, must act more powerfully on the
water under the vessel to drive it, as in a
tide, in a swifter current sternward. .

We can at any time see, when vessels are^
moving at a moderate speed, the large quan- I
tity of water before them strangely disap- j
pear without increasing in any degree the I
volume alongside. To account for this, we j
must understand that there is a sternward I
current of all the water under them, which j
is sufficiently rapid to draw this water from
the bow, convey it under the bottom, and j
place it again on the surface at the stern. )

r

11

Again, suppose the vessel to draw five
feet of water, and to be moving in water
that is forty feet deep, a sternward current
under her of three miles an hour would
clear a channel for her passage at the rate
of twenty-one miles an hour. If the speed
of this current be doubled, then the channel
would be cleared twice as fast, and the boat
would move with twice the speed. Or what
is the same, a current of three miles, in
twice the depth of water, would double the
speed. Thus we may see how power ap-
plied to such a form would act on the
water, and see that it is advantageous to
have a considerable depth of water. We can
see that, unless in shallow water, it would be
impossible to elevate the water between the
bows to any injurious extent, because every
inch it is elevated increases the speed of the
sternward current, which is clearing the way
for a more rapid passage of the vessel.

MASTS FOE SAILING VESSELS.

This form of vessel may be thought un-
suitable for sailing vessels, because the
masts cannot be stepped in every case, in

12

the usual way, below the decks. To answer
this objection, I remark that they can be
stepped in a socket on deck, which any
man of sound judgment must see, is a very
much better plan. As a spar cannot break,
unless it first be bent to the breaking point,
it follows that the right way to proceed to
break a mast is to bind one end firmly, as we
do, when it is stepped below deck, and then
rig it so that it may bend sufficiently to
break. If, however, we want to secure it
so that it will be next to impossible to
break it, we must step it loosely in a socket
on deck, and then rig in the usual way. As
no stretching of the rigging would have any
effect to bend this mast it could not break.
It is common sense that a very much
smaller mast would be more reliable if
stepped on deck.

OCEAN NAVIGATION.

My previous remarks have had reference
to inland navigation only, where a form
corresponding with the perpendicular and
horizontal movements natural to water is
all that is needed. When, however, we

13

would construct a form for ocean naviga-
tion, we must, as a first consideration, have
a regard to the powerful movement given to
water by the ocean wave. It has never had
a proper consideration, and consequently
vessels have imperfect forms that are more
or less unseaworthy. The dangers of the
sea is looked upon as something beyond
man's power to overcome, when the fact is
the sea would be as harmless as the river,
if the form was what it should be.

The water, under the influence of the
wave, gyrates in circles, as I have said, and
when influenced by a storm, the whirling
motion imparted to it clothes it with a
mighty power. This movement is perfectly
harmless unless interfered with. In a pro-
perly formed vessel no harm would come
from it, but let a form be such, that it inter-
feres with it when it is clothed with power,
and it will leap and strike it with a terrific
force, destroying everything in its way. To
overcome this evil, all that is necessary is
that a vessel's form be beveled under from
the water line downward, so that the roll of
the wave will not be interfered with. While

u

a perpendicular form invites destruction, a
beveled one secures safety. It is proper to
remark in this connection, that perpendicu-
lar forms are largely protected by the mo-
tion they impart to the water when going
rapidly forward, or by the drift water when
hove to.

THE HEAD SEA CONSIDEEED.

A head sea is considered to be a great
evil, hindering progress and doing damage.
Much of this is not true, and it is bad sea-
manship to blame the wave when the fault
is in the form of the vessel. To contend
with this so-called evil vessels are con-
structed with lofty, bulky bows, which when
plunged swiftly deep into a head sea, en-
counter a pressure that causes the vessel
to stagger and tremble with the strain, and
if she was not stopped would soon destroy
her. The wave is blamed for this, when
the fault is entirely in the bulky bow, that
this is so, is plain, for if the bow above the
water line was removed, she could plunge
continuously and violently without the
slightest increase of strain, or without en-
countering the least detention.

15

To correct this fault to construct a sea-
going vessel on right principles, we should
discriminate between the actual vessel in
contact with the water and the structure
raised upon it. The actual vessel should
be formed so that the bows and stern for a
proper distance would be but little above the
water line, say three or four feet, and should
be formed so that they could pierce the wave,
or be washed by it without much increase
of pressure, or possibility of damage. At
a proper distance from the bow and stern
the upper structure could be erected where
it would not be a source of injury, and
where it would be out of the reach of harm.
Then the head sea would cease to have
the damage doing character it now has,
then vessels would pitch much less and could
go forward rapidly unharmed. We should
remember that we cannot conquer the wave
by bulk in the vessel, for bulk above water
is the very thing that gives it power to do
damage.

In closing, I remark that while I would
not recommend the adoption of the form
mentioned in these pages to sea-going ves-

16

sels that have lofty bows and high sterns,
I would most earnestly recommend its ap-
plication to forms of vessels such as I have
indicated, fobms that would be in full

ACCOBD WITH THE THBEE WELL KNOWN MOVE-
MENTS IN WATEB.

Jas. E. Cole.
New Bbighton,

BlCHMOND CO.,

New Yobk.